Spring has really sprung in Beijing! Encouraged by a warm and sunny morning we headed off for an early brunch at Element fresh - a nice restaurant specializing in good quality food but with the added bonus of tables outside. Of course while we were there Alex made friends with couple on the table next to ours with his big blue staring eyes but they spoke excellent English so it was easy to natter. The day started to heat up and with blue skies and sunshine we headed for the park that is close to home. Of course many people had done the same and as ever in China there was a crowd but it was nice to stroll around away from the roads and noise. To make sure it wasn't too quiet though the park has some amusement rides and activities for little children where we bumped into Benoit, Irina and Victoria. The bouncy castle was clearly too much of a pull for Victoria who was soon bouncing up and down so we strolled on and parked Alex by a bench for a read in the sun. I was beginning to regret wearing trousers when we headed home to grab some lunch and then headed off the other way to a local market to pick up some fruit and veg. It's nice to find spots where you feel you are the only Westerns around - at least for a while. Luckily some pointing and a calculator to show prices make the lack of language no barrier to shopping! Happy with our purchases we celebrated with a cocktail in Indigo, the big shopping mall, on the way home.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Trip to UK
The planning that went into our first trip back the UK was impressive. Impressive in detail and how little I did. Needless to say Eleanor took the job by the scruff of the neck and shook it for all it's worth.
The flights home had one last minute glitch - it was cancelled. Only finding out about this the night before we were due to fly was a pain but we managed to re-book with a different airline. Sadly this injected a stop over and 5 hours into our travel plans - both of which we could have done without. Alex did his best on the flight and for the most part was nice and quiet but he was very awake and interested in everyone around him. Of course some of that interest came back and two Chinese ladies came up and asked if they could take a photo of him; I've yet to work out exactly what people do with photos of him but this happens quite a lot.
Our whirl wind trip of the UK was fantastic! Apologies for anyone we didn't have time to go and see but three weeks simply wasn't long enough it turns out. Almost every day we dropped in to see different people - Alex seemed to handle all the enthusiasm very well although even he started to get cranky towards the end of the trip. A triple thanks must go to everyone who gave us a bed - Mark&Jen, Pete&Liz, Holiday Inn, John&Stacey, Nicky&Mark, Andy&Sarah, Mark&Karen and of course Ma and Pa. By the end of the trip both Eleanor and I had picked up colds and weer feeling rotten - my guess is with all the children we saw some must have been sneezing out some bugs for us to grab! But it was fab to catch up and we soon started to feel like the Royal family, every where we went it was a celebration! It was great to catch up but it was soon over and time to head back to the airport in driving snow, a final reminder of the weather in the UK as we headed back to sunnier climates.
The flight home should have been easier on Alex, it left at 5pm so we had hoped for him to sleep through the night. This was not to be. He slept for only two hours and then decided it was more fun to be awake but being super tired cried for most of it. We were not the most popular people on the plane!
The flights home had one last minute glitch - it was cancelled. Only finding out about this the night before we were due to fly was a pain but we managed to re-book with a different airline. Sadly this injected a stop over and 5 hours into our travel plans - both of which we could have done without. Alex did his best on the flight and for the most part was nice and quiet but he was very awake and interested in everyone around him. Of course some of that interest came back and two Chinese ladies came up and asked if they could take a photo of him; I've yet to work out exactly what people do with photos of him but this happens quite a lot.
Our whirl wind trip of the UK was fantastic! Apologies for anyone we didn't have time to go and see but three weeks simply wasn't long enough it turns out. Almost every day we dropped in to see different people - Alex seemed to handle all the enthusiasm very well although even he started to get cranky towards the end of the trip. A triple thanks must go to everyone who gave us a bed - Mark&Jen, Pete&Liz, Holiday Inn, John&Stacey, Nicky&Mark, Andy&Sarah, Mark&Karen and of course Ma and Pa. By the end of the trip both Eleanor and I had picked up colds and weer feeling rotten - my guess is with all the children we saw some must have been sneezing out some bugs for us to grab! But it was fab to catch up and we soon started to feel like the Royal family, every where we went it was a celebration! It was great to catch up but it was soon over and time to head back to the airport in driving snow, a final reminder of the weather in the UK as we headed back to sunnier climates.
The flight home should have been easier on Alex, it left at 5pm so we had hoped for him to sleep through the night. This was not to be. He slept for only two hours and then decided it was more fun to be awake but being super tired cried for most of it. We were not the most popular people on the plane!
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